In honor of Batman‘s 75th Anniversary we continue to look back at the more memorable moments of the 1966 Batman TV-series starring Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin. Based on a 1964 comic story, “The Thirteenth Hat” would introduce fans of the show to another Batman villain with David Wayne making his first appearance as the Mad Hatter. Despite offering the show a menacing villain with a different bag of tricks and motives (which work despite not being at all tied to Alice in Wonderland), the character would only make one more two-part appearance later in Season Two.
Recently escaped from prison, the Mad Hatter begins targeting all those he blames for his imprisonment. He begins by stealing the hats and abducting members of the jury which sentenced him to prison and then the criminal turns his attention to the Dark Knight Detective. Attempting to trick Batman into giving him the cowl freely, the Hatter (in a ridiculous disguise) poses as the sculptor working on a statue for the city, but when that fails Batman is left in super-fast-hardening plaster giving the two-parter it’s cliffhanger midpoint.
After escaping with his cowl intact, “Batman Stands Pat” pits the Dynamic Duo against the Hatter by enlisting the help of Alfred (Alan Napier) not realizing that the villain will see through their ruse and lead the heroes into yet another death trap which they are narrowly able to escape. Gadgets of note in this two-parter include the Mad Hatter’s mesmerizing ray kept inside his top hat, Batman’s Antimesmerizing Reflector (which doesn’t quite work as intending as Batman accidentally knocks Robin temporarily out of commission), and the Homing Battransmitter and the Batmobile’s Detect-a-scope.
